


speak easy

by MaryPSue



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23834506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryPSue/pseuds/MaryPSue
Summary: ...all his powers are in illusion, misdirection, and he will continue to meet her only when she wants to forget herself.
Relationships: Jareth/Sarah Williams
Kudos: 10





	speak easy

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposting some old things that somehow never got brought over from tumblr. Three-sentence fic for a prompt: "Sarah/Jareth, roaring twenties".

He only comes to her when her synapses are already swimming in spirits, when she can’t quite tell what is real and what she has only dreamed, when he knows her memories will lie to her in the morning, tell her stories about music so alive it has a pounding heartbeat and about the sway of hips and the drape of jewelled and beaded gowns and the dark, warm taste of smoke and amber ambrosia on her tongue.

Their dances are always slow, heady whirls, and he knows she’ll remember this only as a swirl of light and colour, raucous laughter and the low croon of a singer competing with a saxophone, won’t remember the words he spills into her ear, or if she does, will disregard them, hold them up in the light of day and see them for what they are, flimsy, hollow promises, their worth imaginary, their substance no more than the smoke that hangs heavy around their heads as they dance.

If he could give her more than empty promises and soap-bubble words, perhaps he would venture out of the dancehalls and speakeasies to find her in the daylight world, perhaps he would take her hand and walk with her down bright city streets, face her family and her friends without fear, kiss her deeply and not care who sees; but all his powers are in illusion, misdirection, and he will continue to meet her only when she wants to forget herself, only when she wants to be someone else, and never tell her that all he wants is all she wants to leave behind.


End file.
